Early Years’ Science Fair – March 2013
Friday morning saw the launch of our first Science Fair. Throughout our Early Years’ classes, a multitude of hands-on learning activities were being explored. It was lovely to see parents, visitors and children together observing, problem solving, predicting, thinking, making decisions and most importantly talking about what they were doing. A big thank you to all our teachers for their hard work and to all the parents and visitors who came to enjoy and share the science learning with the children. If sadly you weren’t able to make it, we hope you gain a feel for our Science Fair through the short movie above.
Show and Tell in Junior Kindergarten
The Junior Kindergarten children have been introduce to ‘Show and Tell’ in this term to help them build more confidence when speaking in a large group. Over the week, each child brings in a item from home that they would like to share with class. They each get a turn to stand in front of the class to talk about their item. A short song is sung to introduce each child. After talking about their item, the rest of the class is encouraged to ask questions or make comments. They each put up their hand and wait their turn.
‘Show and Tell’ encourages the children to:
- speak clearly (when describing the item they talking about) keeping to the subject;
- use more descriptive words, helping to widen their use of vocabulary;
- increase confidence while speaking, and to be more attentive while listening;
- make eye contact with who is talking and the audience;
- learn how to be an audience, raising hands to ask questions or make a comment;
- ask different kinds of questions (why, when, where, how etc.);
- to respond appropriately, using simple complete sentence;
- to say thank you at the end of their presentation.
And as all this learn is taking place, the children are truly enjoying sharing and talking about their items that they have brought in. ‘Show and Tell’ is a valuable and rewarding teaching time!
¡JK Habla Español! (JK speaks Spanish)
We’ve had such a lot of fun learning Spanish in JK this half term. I am lucky enough to spend two mornings a week with the wonderful children of JK and their fabulous teacher Ms Myrna, speaking and playing in Spanish. We use Spanish for lots of our everyday routines including circle time, playtime and craft activities. We count how many children are in the class in Spanish (as you can see from the video when you click on ‘read more’ below), we talk about colours and shapes when we’re playing our games and getting into our groups. We even know how to tidy up, have a water break and put on our shoes in Spanish!
We have a HUNCH that this is going to be a bright BUNCH…..
In Junior Kindergarten we have spent most of the first three weeks of term getting acquainted with our peers and exploring our classroom. We love all the centres, in particularly the block and home corners. We have been encouraged to play in large groups to continue building our social skills, sharing skills, and using appropriate manners etc. where necessary. We have been working hard on quickly learning and remembering the class rules and routines in such a short time. Click on read more below and take a look at some of the hands-on activities we have enjoyed, making our learning more fun.
JK and Kindergarten Working Together!
All the Early Years children and teachers were so excited to get new outdoor shelves and bins to keep all our lovely toys organized that we could hardly wait to put them all together! Both Kindergarten and Junior Kindergarten worked together to build the shelves and containers, all of which were bought by PTA funding. Please take a look at the pictures to see how we all got on. It was tough work but phew, it looks lovely out in our playground now! A massive thank you to the PTA.
Jk Celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee
The Junior Kindergarten were delighted to learn about the celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
The children enjoyed a wonderful story about the life of Queen Elizabeth II. After the story, the children got on board the Royal Coach (which they created during group artwork) and walked off dressed in royal attire to enjoy some of the queen’s favourite food in Royal garden. Read on to see some photos and to read more about our celebration activities.
[Read more…]
JK are looking after Planet Earth
This term, the JK children have learned how important it is to help save our Planet Earth. During the first week, we focused on recycling and the children shared their knowledge about what they already knew about the topic, such as turning off taps while brushing teeth or turning off lights when no one is in the room.
The JKs love getting their parents involved in their learning so their home activity was to make something using recycled materials. At a special show and tell, each child brought in their project and explained what it was and how it was used. Click on ‘Read more…’ to see lots of photos.
We also held an Earth Open House. We invited other classes into our room and the JKs talked about their recycling projects.
Calling all Community Helpers
This month, the Junior Kindergarten class have been learning about community helpers. They started by shared what they already knew about people who help us and the words ‘community helpers’ were introduced. The children enjoyed dressing up were given an opportunity to dressed as the person they would like to be when they grow up. Click on ‘read more…’ to see the photos. The medical and construction fields were the most popular so for the last three weeks we have focused on these following the children’s lead.
JK Hunt for Gold on St Patrick’s Day
The Junior Kindergarten were surprised to find mysterious golden footprints all around the school on St Patrick’s Day. They had been left by a Leprechaun who had hidden golden nuggets, coins and shamrock leaves for them to find. Following the trail, they each searched for four golden nuggets, five coins and shamrocks with the letters of their names on them. After the treasure hunt, the children sorted out their treasures making sure that they had the right amount of gold, coins and shamrocks. They were encouraged to create their names using the shamrocks leaves to see if the leprechaun had left them good luck wishes. [Read more…]
JK’s Fairy Tale Classroom
The Junior Kindergarten have been busy transforming their classroom into a fairy tale / nursery rhymes wonderland. Creating a variety of role-play areas together, the children have enjoyed visiting these, dressing up in costumes and wearing masks to re-enacted different fairy tales and nursery rhymes with their friends. The children used old cardboard boxes to create the houses belonging to the three little pigs, decorating them with cut out paper bricks and straw and sticks from the environment. The house play area has become the house of the three bears and a tent area has been set up for the kittens with mittens. Everyone also worked together to make a giant castle with the waffle blocks. Read on to see lots of photos of the children learning as they play during this wonderful cross-curricular topic.
All about Me
In Jk we are learning all about ourselves and our families.
We made collage cut-outs of ourselves and decorated them. Read on to see photos of us creating them and pop into our classroom to see them on display.
[Read more…]
Playdough Recipe
In JK this week we donned our chef hats to cook up some playdough!
We followed a simple pictorial recipe, carefully measuring out the flour, salt and cream of tartar in cups. It was fun to each have a turn. Ms Myrna added the hot water and stirred it up, and once it had cooled it was ready for us to use.
It was fun to make and equally as fun to play with. Click on to see photos of us making and playing with playdough.
[Read more…]
Shiver me Timbers, It’s Father’s Day
To celebrate Fathers’ Day, PreSchool and Junior Kindergarten held a “Pirate Papas” event. Children and dads alike entered into the spirit of the occasion and dressed up in their best pirate outfits. The scene was set for our motley crew as they listened to a story about a pirate boy and his pirate papa. Next, with a song, the search for booty began as they set off on a hunt around a desert island in search of a hoard of golden nuggets which was rumoured to have been hidden by another band of pirates! Once they were sure every piece of hidden treasure had been found our pirates returned to their ship for a hearty snack. What a great adventure! Click on to see more photos of the Pirate adventure!
EYFS Spring Bonnets and PTA Egg Hunt
Traditionally, we end our Spring Term with a bonnet parade and PTA Egg Hunt. The younger children in the school amazed us all with their egg-stremely creative Spring Bonnets. What a lot of work must have gone into some of these. I’m sure the children enjoyed making them and showing them to everyone! Both young and old across the school, enjoyed hunting for eggs in our traditional Egg Hunt and we thank the PTA for organising this much-loved event.
April Fool!
The JK and Preschool teachers and children played an April Fool joke on each other today. To the shock and horror of the children, they saw their teachers eating paint and enjoying it! Their faces and reactions were a picture to see. The teachers had secretly mixed up some special purple paint, made from yoghurt and colouring. After explaining the trick, all the children enjoyed eating the yummy paint and then tricked Miss Claire Marie who couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw them eating it! Click on to see the children’s surprised faces on the photos.
Frolicking on our Lovely New Field
Wow – what great fun we had – playing soccer, skipping, running, racing, jumping, throwing, catching, rolling, relaxing and joining together for parachute games! Our Preschool and Junior Kindergarteners are certainly enjoying our amazing new grass field!
Preschool and Junior Kindergarten
Junior Kindergarten and Preschool have had a fantastic term so far! If your child is a red bike lover, pirate or a chef, the outside area is a place where the children have enjoyed the freedom to explore, play with water and use their imaginations.
Our topic ‘All About Me’ has been lots of fun so far! Come and see our spectacular ‘Mini Me’ display – all the children and teachers have been captured in art….find us on the walls! The children loved learning all about the 5 senses making giant senses and while Junior Kindergarten made sound shakers, the Preschool loved smelling different scents. They all loved making lemonade and popcorn – tasting, listening and smelling things was fun!
More recently they have focused on learning about health and growing, and the talk of the week, has been Valentines Day – the Preschool class have adored making ‘marbled hearts’ and the Junior Kindergarten made ‘heart pillows’…and everyone enjoyed giving them to those they love 😉
JK: Under the Sea Fathers’ Day
Junior Kindergarten created an under the sea theme for their Fathers’ Day celebrations last week. Each child wore a sea creature mask, and dads came fishing and caught their sons and daughters! The children sang under the sea songs and presented their dads with ocean gifts that they had made. There was also a delicious fishy feast to eat on their own specially made fish plate: fish sandwiches (with herbs straight from our garden), fish decorated cakes, cookies and jello, all washed down with a special homemade iced tea brew. Thanks to all the dads and visitors for coming. We hope that everyone enjoyed this special time together and had a ‘whale’ of a time!
PS / JK Garden Visit
To celebrate Earth Day and all we have recently learned about plants, the Preschool and Jr. Kindergarten enjoyed a Garden Picnic at the wonderful home of one of our parents. During this field trip the children were able to plant seeds, observe different kinds of lettuce growing (and tasted some too), as well as tomatoes, peppers and more. The children then had a lovely play swinging, sliding, climbing, and bouncing on a trampoline! They enjoyed singing songs together and listening to a few stories on a blanket under the trees. It was a perfect way to celebrate “How things Grow” and to enjoy Earth Day. See more photos here.
Why are our Almond Tree’s Leaves falling?
There was a distinct feel of autumn/fall time in the playground yesterday. Over our half term break, the leathery leaves of our almond tree have started to turn red and brown and many have fallen to the ground. There are very few deciduous trees here in the Turks and Caicos and so this was an exciting rare experience to enjoy on our return back to school. Read on and see photos of the children enjoying the leaves.
JK – Our Future Turks and Caicos Plumbers?
The Junior Kindergarten are learning about people who help them in the community. One of their dad’s is a plumber and he came in to talk to them about his job. He brought in lots of water pipes, levers, switches and tools for them to explore and connect. Together, they made a model of a simple desalination plant, which changes salt water to fresh water.
Since his visit, the children have continued to enjoy using the water pipe pieces in their free play. When creating hotels, homes and hospitals with the big bricks and waffle blocks, they include the water pipes to construct water systems and take on the role as plumbers and maintenance workers.
Here is a slideshow of the children building with the water pipes. This project has introduced lots of new vocabulary, encouraged logical thinking and provided lots of practise of using fine motor skills. Best of all, it has used real life materials that have tremendously enhanced and extended their play.
JK – This is the House that Jack Built
Junior Kindergarten have been learning about families and homes. They did a project at home to build their own home. Look at all the wonderful individual designs in this slideshow. Well done, everyone. There are some amazingly creative homes and they look like they were a lot of fun to create together with your family.
Music and Scarves
Using a set of colourful scarves created a multi-sensory treat for both the Preschooler and Junior Kindergarten classes last week. They explored both colour and body movements as they enjoyed playing with the scarves while listening to music. Watch a slideshow of them in action.
Bounce-a-thon 2009
The Bounce-a-thon today was a great success with all of our Preschool, Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten children bouncing to help raise money for books, playground equipment and computers. Each child bounced for one minute by themselves and their total bounces were recorded. They then had five minutes with their friends to bounce together. The children had a blast. There were lots of smiles along with a wide variety of unique bouncing techniques.Â
There was also a healthy ‘Fruity Fun Bake Sale’ with delicious fruit kebabs, smoothies, lemonade and homemade baked goodies.
Again, we would like to extend a big thank you to all the families, friends, community supporters and other generous donators, together with the children themselves, for their enormous efforts.